Courts: Slowdown for Quickie Divorces

When Mrs. Martin Wolf went to court in New
Jersey to force her estranged husband to support her, she got a shock.
Architect Wolf, she discovered, had already divorced her more than a
year earlier in Alabama. Moreover, she had "agreed" to the action. Her
signature was on the papers.

Mrs. Wolf was one more victim of Alabama's "quickie" divorce racket,
which the state legislature itself created in 1945. Until then, Alabama
required one year's residence for plaintiffs seeking divorce from
outside-the-state spouses. But under a brief amendment, the residence
requirement was waived if "the court has jurisdiction of both...